Spire hospital gets new X-ray equipment

Patients attending the new radiology department at Spire Roding Hospital in Essex can now benefit from a state-of-the-art X-ray unit.

The private hospital has installed the world's first Toshiba Ultimax-i combined fluoroscopy and X-ray unit, which was shipped over from Japan.

Customised especially for the Spire Roding Hospital, the new equipment consists of an extendable X-ray tube system for taking standard X-ray images, as well as a fluoroscopy base unit, which enables the operator to take a constant stream of images of a patient's internal organs.

The radiology department manager, Carl Smith, said that the new unit should make a "major difference" as patients will be able to relax while the machine is manipulated to take the required image and enable an accurate diagnosis.

"This very latest development by Toshiba also has the largest screen capacity on the market and will therefore mean lower radiation levels for all our patients," he added.

Spire Roding Hospital is the latest in a string of Spire private hospitals to receive new equipment, with the company's Murrayfield Hospital Wirral recently taking possession of a new static MRI scanner.